Read The New Ballgame: Understanding Baseball Statistics for the Casual Fan for Free Online Page A

included, hit .303. The
Philadelphia Phillies hit
.315-and finished last.
They ended the season 40
games out of first place
with the worst record in
baseball (52-102), thanks
to a worst-ever 6.71 team
ERA.
    The 1930 National
League also featured the
last NLer to hit .400 (Bill
Terry, .401) and Hack
Wilson, whose 191 RBIs
that season have never
been challenged and
whose 56 home runs
stood as the NIL record
until 1998.

    The Dead Ball conditions had corresponding effects on pitcher stats.

    Frank "Home Run" Baker
never hit more than 12
home runs in a season,
but won four consecutive
American League
home run titles for the
Philadelphia Athletics from
1911 to 1914. He earned
his nickname by hitting
game-winning home runs
in Games 2 and 3 of the
1911 World Series against
the New York Giants'
two future Hall of Fame
pitchers-Rube Marquard
and Christy Mathewson.
Baker was elected to the
Hall of Fame, too.
    Lower power meant lower scores.
League-wide earned run averages routinely
were below 3.00 in the Dead Ball Era. They
spiked immediately in 1920 and routinely
were above 4.00 until the late 1950s. ERAs
reached terrifying heights in the 1930 National League (4.97) and the 1936 American
League (a record 5.04).
    Since 1901, full-time pitchers have managed sterling 1.65 ERAs or better sixty-two times. Fifty-six of them were achieved in the Dead Ball Era.
    More bunts, fewer strikeouts, and more outs on the bases meant fewer pitches to throw during the Dead Ball Era. Complete games were the norm86% of all starts in 1901 and 58% by 1919. In 2005, that percentage was less
than eight. The American League Central teams had the most complete games
of any division in 2006-33. It took at least that many, usually more, for an
individual pitcher to lead the American League in complete games every year
from 1901 to 1917.

    The talk of the 2005 postseason was how the Chicago White Sox played a
throwback style, letting their starting pitchers throw deep into games. The 2005
Sox had the most stable starting-pitcher rotation in the American League. Their
top four starters combined for 130 starts and 890 innings pitched, far above the
twenty-first century norm. In 1906, the first time Chicago won a World Series,
the top four White Sox pitchers started 121 times and threw 1,078 innings. That
same year, 27 pitchers from the eight AL teams threw at least 210 innings, with
five topping 300. In 2005, 10 pitchers from the 14 AL teams threw at least 210
innings, with the Sox' Mark Buehrle leading the way at 237.
Expansion / Integration
    When it comes to baseball statistics, you can count on this: rabid debate over
whether milestones achieved since 1961 are tainted by expansion.
    Once the American League debuted in 1901, Major League Baseball had
the same sixteen franchises (although some relocated) until its first expansion
in 1961. Two teams were added to the American League then and two more to
the National League in 1962. Four teams, two in each league, were added in
1969, the only time MLB has expanded by more than two teams in a season.
Two more were added to the AL in 1977 and to the NL in 1993. Tampa Bay was
added to the AL and Arizona to the NL in 1998, the latest expansion.

    Offense typically spikes in the first two years after an expansion. Roger
Maris hit his record 61 home runs in 1961. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
shattered Maris' mark in 1998. The explanation is simple and oft repeated:
Expansion dilutes pitching talent so much that batters thrive. Of course, expansion adds lots of bad hitters, too. The truth is common sense-star players
thrive when Triple-A level talent gets added to the big leagues. For instance,
future Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Willie McCovey, Harmon Killebrew,
Tom Seaver and Phil Niekro-plus Pete Rose-all had the best years of their
careers in 1969, the year four teams were added to the major leagues. So did
many other excellent veteran